TE Mason Taylor eclipses major career milestone at LSU
After another quality outing, LSU tight end Mason Taylor has now eclipsed 100 receptions on his career, another milestone for one of the best tight ends to ever come through Baton Rouge.
The week prior against UCLA, Taylor set the record for the most career receiving yards by a tight end in LSU history and is now at 102 receptions for 1,042 yards for his career, with at least seven games left in his junior season.
"It means a lot," Taylor said after the win over UCLA. "It's definitely a goal of mine to come in and be an impact to a program like this. I just want to keep working and keep exceeding every single day. I think I have yet to reach my potential so I think as long as I keep working and staying humble and helping this team out, we will reach our team goals."
Taylor stepped on campus as a freshman and caught 38 passes for 414 yards, then as a sophomore battled an ankle injury, but still caught 36 balls for 348 yards. This year, he's on pace to shatter those numbers, already at 28 catches and 280 yards in five games.
His relationship with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has allowed his role to flourish as the offense has maintained excellent consistency throughout this season.
"He constantly delivers and constantly gives second effort and tries to do things the right way," Nussmeier said. "When he messes up, he's pissed off because he feels like he lets people down. He has a passion for this team and has a passion for his work."
Taylor's best game of the season came against South Carolina when he was awarded the John Mackey Player of the Week for the best tight end in the nation after catching six passes for 58 yards. His consistency on this offense allows them to create mismatches throughout the field as was evident in that huge road SEC win. His impact has certainly not been lose on Kelly and those within the building at LSU.
"Nobody talked about him coming into the season," Kelly said. "I thought he was unheralded. You guys didn't talk about him. The national media didn't talk about him. Now you wanna talk about him because he's the leading tight end in LSU history."
With Taylor and the offense leading the way, LSU sits at 4-1 on the season, the stakes are raised now entering the final seven games of the year as all of them come against SEC opponents. the Tigers begin after this week's BYE, facing Ole Miss at home, looking to get a massive win to catapult them inside the top 10 for the first time this year.
